If you have too many computer passwords to remember and are
tired of having to come up with new ones every few months,
you're not alone. The information age is turning out to be a
security nightmare, for both the people who administer corporate
networks and those who use them.

But big changes are on the way, and soon your body itself may be
your password: your fingerprints, hands, face, the patterns in your
retina's blood vessels, the veins in your hand, or maybe just
the sound of your voice. Each of these features is unique to every
individual, and computers can analyze them to distinguish one
person from another. Such biometric technologies, as they're
called, have actually been gestating in laboratories for years, but
high costs have limited their use mainly to the military and spy
agencies. Now, with the plummeting cost of computing power,
biometrics is poised for widespread commercial use.

Giving the field a major boost has been PC maker Compaq, which
came out with a $99 fingerprint reader for PCs early last year. At
that price, companies can start thinking about biometrics for mass
use, not just for ultra-secure data centers.

Other technologies are hitting the market as well. Miros offers
TrueFacePC, a $59.95 program (available at http://www.miros.com)
that identifies people by the shape of their faces. Working with
most standard PC video cameras--which now sell for less than
$100--the software takes just two seconds to analyze a face and
authenticate its owner--assuming it has "seen" that
person before. By always working with two views of each face, the
program analyzes the depth of a person's facial features to
prevent imposters from tricking it with a flat photograph. Another
development: Biometric technology developer Keyware Technologies
(http://www.keyware.com) and others offer software that verifies
people's identities by analyzing their speech.

How fast biometric technology catches on depends on many
factors, including cost, convenience and companies' need for
improved security. And there are some difficult political issues,
too: Will Americans submit to having digitized scans of their
fingerprints, retinas, speech and even body odors stored in
computers? Only time will tell.

John W. Verity has been writing about technology since the
days when 1MB RAM cost $150,000 and was the size of a fridge. Send
your questions to John at jverity@mindspring.com

Star Treatment

Ready for software that automatically reads and responds to
e-mail from customers? Systems that let service agents send
selected Web pages to clients' browsers while speaking with
them by phone?

Well, ready or not, all that and more is coming as part of a
technological revolution about to hit the world of customer
service. For years, businesses have depended on 800 numbers and
telephone call centers to connect with customers. But the Internet
offers a multitude of new channels and methods for delivering
better customer service at a lower cost. More than 24 Internet
start-up companies are scrambling to change how people get
personalized shopping advice, fix problems with laptops and
communicate with companies about their products and services.
It's what Forrester Research Inc. calls Teleweb technology.

Certainly the easiest new way to communicate with customers is
via e-mail. But some companies now receive 5,000 or more e-mails
per day--far more than can be answered personally. Consequently,
tech firms such as Kana Communications (http://www.kana.com) have
developed programs that scan incoming e-mail, respond automatically
if possible, and route unanswered messages to specialists.

When e-mail's not enough, cutting-edge companies are beefing
up their Web sites to provide easier access to data and documents.
But sometimes, customers may still want to converse with someone in
"real time." One method allows an exchange of typed
messages--a private online chat room.

Another method: Soundstone.com, an online seller of music CDs,
has representatives available during business hours to help
visitors choose disks and resolve problems with their orders. Says
Kevin Sheehan, president and CEO, "This makes people feel more
comfortable with shopping on the Web."

Going even further are companies like MCI (http://www.mci.com).
Its system lets an operator speak to Web site visitors and show
them selected Web pages.

As technology continues to improve, experts believe the Web will
improve how companies handle customer service.

Easy Pieces

Remember the Lincoln Logs and Legos you used to play with as a
child? Little did they know, the makers of those modular,
snap-together toys were actually preparing you for the next wave of
computer software.

It's called component-based programming, and it's about
to show up on a corporate intranet near you.

Software makers have finally created setups that allow mere
mortals to construct and customize fairly sophisticated programs
from sets of prefabricated components. Not that you'll be
building your own word processing system any time soon--right now,
components are catching on mainly in corporate computing.

A good example is what Silicon Valley start-up AlphaBlox is
shipping: Without knowing any programming languages and using only
their Web browsers, users can now drag and drop that firm's
graphical "blox" to create functionally rich business
applications. Each blox (there are more than 20 to work with) is a
complex chunk of software that a firm's computer department
first has to customize so it can recognize and navigate the
company's various databases and analyze data using standardized
methods. Besides giving you better access to strategic data, the
blox setup is supposed to eliminate the bother of writing a new
program every time someone needs a new kind of report.

Component-based programs are catching on all over, thanks
largely to plans put forth by Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. Their
respective ActiveX and Java Beans architectures define just how
programmers should build components that will plug together
seamlessly.

Components still can't develop software quickly and
accurately, and they don't fit together quite as easily as
Lincoln Logs. But they're a big step forward, and you're
sure to see more of them as time goes on.

FAQ

Q: I'm way too busy to go out shopping for printer
paper, diskettes and other computer supplies. Isn't there a
better way?

A: There may be, indeed, and it's as close as your
computer. Just get on the Web, and you'll find numerous sites
for buying computer supplies. Check Web directories like Snap
(http://www.snap.com) and Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com). You'll
find many local and regional retailers, as well as national chains
and specialty dealers, selling everything from diskettes and paper
to toner cartridges for laser printers.

The three biggest chains doing business online are Office Max
(http://www.officemax.com), Office Depot
(http://www.officedepot.com) and Staples (http://www.staples.com).
Each has an extensive online catalog and delivers product orders of
$50 or more for free.

As convenient as Web shopping may be, it still pays to shop
around. When we looked, a box of 10 PC-formatted Iomega-brand Zip
disks ranged from $97.90 to $149.95. The lowest prices for the
widest range of supplies--and all kinds of computer gear, too--may
be found at New York's J&R Computer World
(http://www.jandr.com). Meanwhile, check out BizRate
(http://www.bizrate.com) for loads of useful information about the
quality and reliability of specific Web merchants.